The Helipad Will NOT Benefit SF Residents

According to the SFGH Medical Helipad Initial Study (p. 8), the 700 patients per year using a helipad on the roof of SFGH would fall into three categories:

• 400 “interfacility transfer patients” who have been stabilized at lower level trauma centers in counties all across Northern California, who currently transfer to other Level I Trauma Centers located in Palo Alto, Sacramento, or San Jose.  These are patients who can pay the $15,000 to $20,000 cost of helicopter transport.  SFGH wants a helipad to attract these insured patients,
• 240 tertiary referral patients from surrounding Northern California county hospitals who are need specialty services.  These patients are currently flown to SFO and then take ground ambulance to the City's specialty hospitals, i.e., the Burn Center at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital, Davies Medical Center for limb reattachment.  
• 53 trauma scene patients picked up at the scene of an emergency incident, but NOT WITHIN SAN FRANCISCO. These are car accidents in northern San Mateo county (currently flown to Stanford Medical center) and recreational injuries from southern Marin, such as motorcyclists, hikers and surfers, (currently flown to John Muir Hospital in Hayward).  For  approximately half of these patients, SFGH would actually be farther by air than the currently used helipad-equipped hospitals and SFGH is always more crowded.

San Francisco residents will be transported to the SFGH helipad if they happen to be injured while visiting other counties.  Yet San Francisco will bear the COST and DANGER of the helipad.  Furthermore, an influx of Trauma patients from other counties will increase SFGH overcrowding, forcing even greater local ambulance diversions than the current 20% level.   Learn about SFGH Ambulance Diversions.